Strollers, carriers hurt more than 17,000 kids every year, study finds

Injuries range from bruises to severe concussions

Thousands of children every year are taken to hospital emergency rooms with injuries associated with baby strollers and carriers, reveals a new study published last week in the medical journal Academic Pediatrics.

The study found that from 1990 to 2010, a yearly average of 17,187 children under the age of five in the U.S. suffered injuries ranging from mild bruises to severe concussions, though that rate is declining.

Most of the injured children — 96.5 per cent — were not hospitalized.

Most often injured? Boys under the age of one.

Bumps and bruises, most often to the head and face, were the most common injuries, the study found. But about a quarter of stroller injuries and 35 per cent of carrier-related injuries were concussions or traumatic brain injuries.

In fact, the rate of TBIs and concussions rose dramatically in the time period studied, from 19 per cent of injuries in 1990 to 42 per cent of injuries in 2010 for strollers, and from 18 per cent of injuries in 1990 to 53 per cent of injuries in 2010 for carriers.

Researchers said the increase might be due to the public’s increased awareness of head injuries rather than a true rise in the rate of cases.

“While these products are used safely by families every day, when injuries do occur they can be quite serious,” study co-author Kristi Roberts, a research associate in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said in a statement.

“The majority of injuries we saw were head injuries, which is scary considering the fact that traumatic brain injuries and concussions in young children may have long-term consequences on cognitive development.”

Investigators analyzed data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on consumer product and sports-related injuries treated in American emergency rooms.

The injuries are not necessarily caused by the products themselves. For instance, 60 per cent to 65 per cent of the injuries happened when children fell out of strollers and carriers — both the wearable type like Baby Bjorns and carriers with handles.

Just for stroller injuries, about 16 per cent happened when a stroller tipped over, nine per cent when the child tripped over it, and five per cent when the child got an arm or leg caught in it, according to Live Science.

“In general, these are products that are not hazardous in and of themselves, usually, especially if they are used properly,” Kyran Quinlan, associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, told ABC News.

“This study calls attention to make sure they are used right.”

The study doesn’t exonerate the products completely. From 1990 through 2010, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission “issued 43 stroller-related recalls and 13 infant carrier-related recalls for injury risks that included falls, entrapment, strangulation or choking hazards, amputations, and lacerations,” the study pointed out.